I hope this Blog proves to be both fun and educational for anyone interested in Showing and/or Breeding Dogs. Spend some time with us and you will really understand the time and effort and emotions that goes into this hobby. Join me here for the good times and bad times, the joys and sorrows, the wins and losses. Welcome to life at Vista Dei!

Two of our dogs, Ricki and Diana had their hips X-ray'd for their genetic clearances, and both came back from OFA (Orthepedic Foundation for Animals) as "Good" so that is a very good thing, especially since Diana is from my breedings and one of the females I am hoping to build my future lines on, I am happy today.

Posted by: Vistadei at 12:17 | link | comments (1)

A huge WWWOOOOOOOO -HOOOOOOOO!!!  As you know if you have been following this blog, our first agility shows were yesterday, and.. drum roll please...

Darby and I had  a Qualifying run in Novice Standard, it was a Clean Run with perfect Score of 100, under course time, first place ribbon... and...

We traveled with Drifter and his owners, and Drifter qualified and got a First place score in Jumpers with Weaves, AND their other dog a collie Spirit qualified and got a first place in Open Standard, so we had a nice little haul of ribbons and toy prizes and legs towards our titles! What a fun day!!

Posted by: Vistadei at 09:38 | link | comments (2)

Well I have made my choice about going to the Sheltie nationals vs breeding Dew-oh.. I am not going to breed her and instead go to the nationals.  I tried looking at the "big picture" and decided that all in all my program would get much more of a boost by getting to the nationals, and getting to really watch different lines, go over dogs, meet people and LEARN than it would by staying at home having a litter.  So National plans are still a go!

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:41 | link | comments (1)

Ugghhh went to agility class last night and Drifter, our puppy that Dave has seems to be injured and has totally shut down on the course.  Looks like he has pulled or banged one of his back legs, not limping, but favoring it and not wanting to climb and jump. Poor guy, I am soooo bummed to see him not able to have fun on the equiment, he just looked so dejected last night.  You just never know what is going to happen from one second to the next, agility is a very demanding sport on their bodies. At least Dave has a collie trained and can still show while giving Drifter some down time to rest and heal, I often think if Darby gets hurt that will be the end of agility for me for a long time as I have no other dog even close to trained to sub in while one heals.  Perhaps I will start working on one getting trained as a back up.  Darby did much better on his weaves this morning.

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 10:51 | link | comments (2)

I am struggling with some tough choices today.  Our Sheltie nationals move around the country, and only every 5 years or so are they close enough for me to attend.  I had planned to go and to show Daisy. But Daisy had other plans, she came in heat early, and will no doubt shed out way too much of her coat to be shown at a big show like that.  Ok, well so I decided to just keep working with her coat and try anyway and to go and have fun even if she couldn't show.  No Dew-oh has thrown in a monkey wrench by coming into heat early.  Now I really really want to breed Dew-oh, she is several heats beyond "ideal" for her first breeding, and I have people waiting for pups, but if I do this breeding the pups will come just days before the nationals begin

What to do, what to do.. I feel bad perhaps leaving my friend short, as we were going to split the travel and motel, and I was SOOOO looking forward to the trip.  I am really torn...

Darby's first agility show is on Sunday, and I really think I entered him too early, he is not ready, and it will not be pretty I am afraid. sigh.. that adds to the stress, and I don't want any stress with the agility, I just want it to be FUN.

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:32 | link | comments

Mud, mud, mud, mud.. the season of mud is starting.  I really like the new linoleum I put down in the dog room and the laundry room, it is deep green and black, granite looking texture and the muddy dog prints don't show like they did on the white floor.  With a white floor, I mopped about 6 times a day during the muddy season, with this floor, once a day after the dogs go to bed is just fine..  well worth the work and money to change it.  One of the great things about a sheltie coat is that they don't need a bath when they get muddy, it just dries and shakes right off the hair like a powder, that is great, but it does make for some dust..  I am wondering about an air filtering system, will have to look into that.  I just LOVE these new cages we have for the dogs, it is sooooo nice for them to have big cages when they have to be confined, these are the size for a full grown Rottie, so you can imagine, they can streatch out, even stand up on their hind legs, so I do not feel bad if they have to spend an extra hour or two in them like I did when they were in the smaller crates, plus these are all wire, so the air flow will be nice in the summer.  I am STILL SEWING the new crate pads, will get some pictures when I get them done before the dogs start to chew on them. 

Oh go look at the web page, we have a new picture up for Feb...  Miss Cricket is our featured star!

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:32 | link | comments (3)

It is our anniversary of ONE YEAR OF BLOGGING!  Cool, huh?  I hope you all have enjoyed sharing the past year with us,  I am hoping that this year is full of blessings, new titles for the dogs, and maybe a new litter or two with some special pups.  Most of all I hope our whole pack remains happy healthy and motivated to keep showing and growing and developing.  There is so much exciting to look forward to in the next few months, our first agility shows, a herding seminar and an agility seminar, and the Sheltie nationals all within the next 3 months.  I hope I have enough time to keep writing, as things are really getting hectic with all the training classes and such.  Tonight we are doing another practice with the agility.

Posted by: Vistadei at 13:44 | link | comments